Philiadelphia Police Beat Suspect

Philadelphia police were caught on videotape today pulling a shooting suspect out of a suspected stolen police cruiser and beating him on the street.

The video shows Philadelphia police
beating and kicking the suspect, who was identified as Thomas Jones, 30.
Minutes earlier, Jones and the police had been engaged in a wild shootout
on the streets of north Philadelphia.

“Clearly, the activity on the tape is troubling,” said
Philadelphia Mayor John Street at a press conference late Wednesday night.
“We have unanswered concerns.”

Both Mayor Street and Philadelphia Police Chief John F. Timoney promised a
fair and thorough investigation into the incident, which critically
injured the suspect and in which three police officers were also hurt.

Street, who was in Baltimore for the convention of
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,
returned to Philadelphia because of the incident, spokeswoman Luz
Cardenas said.

Jones’ fiancee, Victoria Bryant, told the Philadelphia Daily News that his body was still shaking — hours after the beating.
“It’s like he thinks somebody is trying to hit him,” said Bryant after a hospital visit.

In an interview with the Daily News, Bryant’s mother, Peaches Wright, compared Jones’ beating to the 1991 battering of Los Angeles motorist Rodney

King by white police officers. The King incident touched off race riots.

“What you see is Rodney King in two different colors,” she told the Daily News.

Wednesday’s incident, Wright said, had both white and black officers beating on the suspect.

Chase,
Shootout

The incident began at 12:40 Wednesday afternoon after police noticed the
suspect driving erratically and attempted to pull him over. The officers
identified the car as having been reported stolen July 1 in a carjacking,
according to Timoney. Jones is a suspect in the
carjacking.

Police cornered the suspect, a gun battle ensued and 45 shots were fired.
The suspect was wounded five times and then made off with another car, a
police cruiser, before coming to a stop several blocks
away.

Two internal affairs investigations — one into the shootout between
Jones and the cops, and the other into the videotaped beating — have
already begun, Timoney said. He cautioned reporters at the press
conference that it would take time to uncover all the details of the
incident. “This is not going to be overnight,” Timoney said.
“This is not even going to be two weeks. This is going to take a
while.”

Another investigation was being conducted into the alleged crimes, as
well, as is standard police procedure.

Kicking
and Beating
ABCNEWS affiliate WPVI captured the dramatic footage of the
incident.

Some 40 police cars made their way up North Broad Street, a major
Philadelphia thoroughfare, and other city streets in
pursuit.

Police finally stopped the stolen cruiser, and surrounded it with their
guns
drawn.

“There was about 100 police cars come
flying down the street and they grab the guy right away,” said Stan
Kaplan, who witnessed the action.

As backup arrives, a dozen officers are seen on the video opening the car
door, then dragging the suspect out, and forcing him to the
ground.

For about 35 seconds they can be clearly seen beating and kicking the
suspect on the ground, with more officers watching. Other officers appear
to
be trying to restrain their colleagues, pulling them by the arms.

Because the video was shot from a helicopter, what is harder to see is
what police say was going on at the bottom of the pile of bodies: a man
struggling, resisting arrest, trying to reach for an officer’s gun
and biting down on an officer’s hand.

The suspect was then handcuffed and driven away in a police van, bleeding,
apparently from bullet wounds.

It is not clear whether police knew a helicopter was overhead, recording
the scene.

By just after midnight this morning, the scene of the apparent
beating was quiet, with no one there.

Hospitalized
The suspect, Jones, is in guarded condition at Temple University Hospital and is beginning to stabilize, officials said. He had surgery Wednesday
night, with gunshot wounds to the abdomen
and arms, according to a hospital spokesperson. Three officers were also
taken to a hospital — one with a thumb injury. Police believe the
wound is a result of a shot fired by the
suspect.

Officer Michael Livewell, 24, who has been on the
force for four years and is assigned to track down felony cases, was shot
in the thumb and was in fair condition at Hahnemann University Hospital, police
said. Another officer, Lex Henninger, 52, was being treated
for a bite wound inflicted by the suspect, police
said. The wound of the third officer the mayor mentioned was not
disclosed.

At least 19 officers were involved in the
arrest.

Timoney says he needs to examine the videotape before reaching any
conclusions, and appealed for people to withhold judgement until after an
internal police investigation.

“Indications are he flees from the scene. Indications are he fights
police officers. He steals a police car,” Timoney said.

“The guy obviously doesn’t want to get arrested. When
someone doesn’t want to get arrested, there really isn’t a
very easy way of doing it, and so, let’s not jump to any
conclusions. Let’s wait and see what happens,” he said.

Timoney said officers were canvassing for witnesses.

In the past, Timoney has publicly warned officers to intervene if they see
a fellow officer use excessive force.

ABCNEWS’ John Miller, ABC affiliate WPVI in Philadelphia and
The Associated Press contributed to this report.